A few years ago, FIFA president Sepp Blatter came up with an idea that he thought would attract more male crowds to stadiums to watch women's football. "I suggest female footballers wear tighter pants and shorter shirts," the Swiss said.
Luckily Blatter no longer runs world football, and his ideas have been thrown in the dustbin of history.
In recent years, women's football has become an amazing global phenomenon - without tricks and without sticks.
Last week, no less than 91,553 spectators gathered at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, the largest stadium in Europe, to watch the rematch in the Women's Champions League quarter-final, between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The game itself was important and determined who would play in the semifinals.
But the event was just as important - it is a world record for spectators at a women's soccer game.
And the excitement was accordingly.
Both of the fans, who were partners in the historic record, and also of the actresses.
After all, so many people came to see them.
Aitna Bonmati, one of Barça's top players, said: "We've had a lot of great experiences lately, like winning the Champions League last season. But what happened tonight was even more special. Seeing the Camp Nou full - it was huge."
Alexia Potias, the team's big star, and the one who won the Golden Ball in 2021, was no less excited.
"It was magical. When the game was over the fans didn't want to go. I saw a lot of girls, a lot of girls, with sparkling eyes in the stands. It's amazing to be a part of history."
Scout record set at Camp Nou, Photo: Reuters
To understand how crazy this event is, one only has to remember that for the game between the men's teams of Barça and Real, fewer spectators came this season than for the women's Clasico.
And try to digest the following sentence: No football game in the world has reached such an amount of crowds this season.
In the world!
If until now it was still not entirely clear, now there is no doubt: Women's football is the developing sport in the world.
This is no longer an anecdote, a marginal sport that only interests the actresses, their family members and a few other crazy people to talk to.
Fact:
On the evening that Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2: 5 and qualified for the semi-finals in front of over 90,000 people, 27,262 fans came to the Parc de France to see the Paris Saint-Germain women's team beat Bayern Munich.
Killian Ambape, the star of PSG's men's team, was in the stands and came down after the game to congratulate the players.
Just like Xavi, the coach of the Barcelona men's team, who after the win over Real said: "I really enjoyed the game, they deserved to win. The atmosphere was amazing. It made me goosebumps."
And it was not just the quantity, but also the quality.
Both of football, and of the crowd.
PSG's Ultras gave a tremendous display of encouragement, far more impressive than the one they gave to the men's team, that of Messi and Neymar, in the men's Champions League.
In Spain, France, Italy, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and England, women's football is booming. Professional leagues have been set up, senior players are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, TV channels broadcast the games - and crowds flow in droves.
In the summer, England will host the European Women's Championship.
All 80,000 tickets for the final game at Wembley, and all tickets for the first three games of the English team, were snatched within hours.
And we're talking about England, a country where until 1971 women were banned from playing football!
Pretty amazing, but for 50 years, at a time when athletes have competed in the Olympics in quite a few industries, UK law has stipulated that women are not allowed to play football.
The explanation was that "this is a sport that is not suitable for women and the phenomenon should not be encouraged."
In the early 1970s the ban was lifted, but women's football in Europe remained a small, negligible and poor industry.
The general perception was that it would be better for women to look for other, more "delicate" sports.
When in Europe this sport faltered, in the United States women's soccer gained momentum. Although for somewhat strange reasons. As is well known the sports that dominate America are football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey. - or women. Why? Because it is considered a relatively "soft" sport. Therefore, ostensibly, it is more suitable for girls. And so football has become the leading female sport in the United States.
And it is no coincidence that the US team has won the Women's World Cup four times.
But in recent years Europe has been closing the gap with the Americans.
And this is mainly due to a significant financial investment in the women's teams, which leads to much better training conditions and the influx of girls and girls into football, instead of other industries, as was the case in the past.
Bonmati and Potias, Photo: EPA
Alexia Pottias, the captain of Barcelona, is today a sporting, but also a cultural icon.
Anyone who has visited Barcelona recently could not help but see Alexia's face appear on huge billboards all over the city.
After Leo Messi left Barcelona, Alexia is now the city's greatest football icon.
Yes, more than any player on the men's team.
On the main stage
Until last week, the official record for a women's soccer match belonged to the United States. 90,185 spectators reached the World Cup final at the Rose Ball in Los Angeles in 1999, when the United States defeated China.
Yes, until recently the records were set in the teams' games.
For example, 80,203 spectators came to the final of the Wembley Olympic tournament in 2012, who saw the United States beat Japan.
The problem was in the team games, which were not attended by too many spectators.
Therefore the games do not take place in the stadiums of the men's teams.
Barça plays on regular days "Estedi Johann Cruyff", with 6,000 seats.
The Real Madrid women's team, formed just two and a half years ago, when club president Florentino Perez realized he could not stay out, is holding its games in the little "Alfredo Di Stefano".
But it's clear to everyone that it's only a matter of time before she, too, arrives at the Bernabeu.
Because things are starting to change.
When Atletico Madrid hosted Barcelona for the championship game in 2019, they did so in Metropolitano, which was attended by 60,739 fans.
Last week the Manchester United women's team beat Everton 1: 3 in the English Super League, the English women's league, in another historic milestone.
For the first time the "Red Fields" played at Old Trafford and the stands had 20,241 spectators.
Actresses Paris Saint-Germain, Photo: EPA
True, it's not a full stadium yet, but it's five times the number of fans who usually come to watch United's women.
Coach Mark Skinner said: "This is the goal we are working for - the dream theater. We want to make the dreams of the young girls come true."
The investment pays off
More audiences, more exposure, more money.
The direction is clear.
The Barcelona women's group is a successful business.
The annual budget is 4.5 million euros.
Slightly relative to the men's group, but much more so than ever before.
Sky networks and the BBC have signed a contract with the English league to broadcast 44 of the league's live broadcasts, for £ 8 million a year. Barclays Bank pays £ 10 million a year to the women's league for sponsorship.
Suddenly there is money in women's football.
Fact: Two years ago, Chelsea bought striker Frenil Harder from Wolfsburg for 350,000 euros.
In the January transfer window, European teams have spent almost half a million euros on new players.
Very little relative to the sums of men's football - but a 57 percent increase over last year.
And the salaries that footballers receive increase accordingly.
Samantha Kerr, the Australian star of Chelsea, earns half a million dollars a season.
Alex Morgan and Megan Rafino, stars of the US national team, receive a similar salary. Edda Hagerberg, Lyon's Norwegian striker, earns $ 425,000.
Everyone understands that for women's football to continue to grow, so must the sums.
Therefore, the English association will pay £ 2.5 million this season for the women's teams participating in the English Cup - compared to 309,000 last year ...
Samantha Kerr (right).
Half a million dollars a season, Photo: AFP
And when the Women's World Cup takes place next year in Australia and New Zealand, FIFA will pay the participating teams $ 60 million - double what it paid at the World Cup held in France 32 years ago.
"Things have changed since then"
But this was not always the case.
The Barcelona Women's Group was established in 1970 as an initiative of an 18-year-old girl, Ima Kabsran.
She placed an ad in the newspaper asking 18 to 25 year olds interested in playing football to sign up.
Karma Nieto was 22 when she made history and was one of the players in Barça's first women's team.
Last week the 74-year-old met with three of the stars of the current team and told them: "Until then I only played football on the street, with my brother. It was very difficult for women to play, you can not imagine. The spectators would shout at us to go to the kitchen or clean the bathroom. "In the stadium's public address system, comments were heard about our appearance. Luckily, things have changed since then."
Her mother Kabsran passed away, but Karma Nieto was at the Camp Nou last week and was moved to tears by the sight of the full stands, the formidable team playing on the grass, and the unimaginable world record that has inspired hundreds of thousands of footballers around the world.
But this is just the beginning.
Because in exactly two weeks, when Barcelona host Wolfsburg in the Champions League semi-finals, the Camp Nou will be filled again, and the record from the game against Real Madrid will be broken.
This time there will be even more than 91,000 spectators.
Because this tune can not be stopped.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us